An organic wine from Chile grabs the eye, then you see Spier, the first South African wine to qualify for the Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association, but as you reach out, you see a bottle of Thandi, the first Fairtrade wine and black-owned to boot, so you can be on the side of the angels and Bono with trade not aid, until you read the carbon footprint and think maybe you should go for the Burgundy, or is Bordeaux nearer Chipping Sodbury?

MICHAEL PORTER defines three basic strategies to gain competitive advantage: cost leadership, differentiation and market segmentation (or niche). Cost leadership is difficult to maintain and demands razor-thin margins; plus there’s only one leader – who will take on WalMart? Market segmentation is fine for the Fruits & Roots of this world – but a niche by definition is limiting. So most national and multi-national manufacturers and retailers seek to differentiate through the well-trodden paths of quality, innovation, service and memorable communications.